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I attended the opening of Kenny Scharf’s Naturafutura and Three Dozen! at the Paul Kasmin Gallery. I’ve gotten to know Kenny over the past two years from his Cosmic Cavern parties to his show at The Hole. His work is vibrant and fun and expertly executed. Naturafutura is a new series of large-scale paintings inspired by his time spent in Brazil. And with donuts being my favorite food, I obviously love Three Dozen! I also enjoyed the donuts that we could eat – I chose the pink one. Delicious.

Naturafutura and Three Dozen! will be on view January 27th through February 26, 2011 at Paul Kasmin 293 Tenth Avenue and 511 W. 27th Street respectively. Here are some photos from the night (though I unfortunately didn’t get any of the man of the night):

Joe Grillo and Laura Grant in front of Swamp Style, 2010

Sam Gutman and Erin Kennedy in front of Oil Painting, 2010

Donuts in Space (and in my eventually in my belly)

DJ Lino playing the hot jamz at the afterparty

The dance party begins

All in all, it was a great night to celebrate the work of a very talented man, Kenny Scharf.

Without a doubt, A Chorus Line is the best musical ever made and today, I happened to turn on Every Little Step, exactly 37 years (to the day) after Michael Bennett sat his friends down and recorded their stories – the original material for the musical.

I actually auditioned for the part of Diana Morales (who sings “Nothing”) in the open call for the A Chorus Line revival in 2005. I walked into my first Broadway audition as a newbie to NYC without any knowledge of the musical’s choreography (the movie does not have the original Broadway choreography and I had never seen the musical on stage). As I warmed up, I noticed video cameras filming for a documentary and thought it was super metaphysical to make a documentary about the audition process for a musical that is about the audition process.

Though it was an open call, the director, Bob Avian was there to personally audition everyone. Also there to teach choreography was Baayork Lee, the original Connie. It was obvious that this revival was going to be very true to the original with its producers so invested in the work. (When I saw the revival, however, it didn’t seem as raw as I thought it should be.)

Every Little Step takes the point of view of the directors trying to cast the perfect person for each role. The difficulty these directors face is how to exactly capture the intricacies of the human character, especially under the extreme pressure of an audition and the vulnerability and anxiety they face in that situation. Just like A Chorus Line, each of the auditionees has some notion of the reality of the life of a dancer. When they get the job, they know they’ve realized the dream and when they don’t, they know they have to continue on because this is their life and they wouldn’t be complete without dance. Every dancer of every generation can relate to the struggles in A Chorus Line as evidenced by the interviews and archival footage/audio that make for a very real and insightful documentary.

All in all, Every Little Step nails the essence of A Chorus Line with its emotional journey through the audition process.

In October 2010, my friends Joe Grillo, Laura Grant, and Owen Osborn of the artist collective Dearraindrop along with Pop Art legend, Kenny Scharf had a show at The Hole Gallery in New York City. The Hole is a new gallery in Soho run by Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman – gallerinas extraordinaire, who previously worked with Jeffrey Deitch at Deitch Projects – and wanted to fill the “hole” in the downtown art scene in NYC.

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the week at The Hole as they got ready for the show aptly titled, Hot Glue Hullabaloo (for the amount of hot glue used to create Cosmic Cavern by Kenny Scharf and the “junk sculptures” by Joe Grillo).

Here is my week in photos:

My week starts with Joe Grillo painting.

Laura Grant and Owen Osborn get ready to install the trigger synthesizers with gourd speakers and the guitars.

Tea Party LL Cool J Contest Next Door

Found this note from Owen in the morning: Went to Philadelphia. Back for lunch.

When Owen returned, we installed the synthesizers and gourds.

Then we installed the guitars.

The next day, we put everything in place for the opening.

Kenny Scharf spray paints.

Laura Grant wearing her own hand-made dress, standing in front of her painting.

Joe in the Cosmic Cavern.

Owen toting around his Kaleidoloops.

The Hole Gallery owners, Meghan Coleman and Kathy Grayson.

Lady Miss Kier plays the guitar.

Hole gallerist, Scott Brewster, wearing a Dearraindrop hoodie.

All in all, I had an amazing time working with these talented artists on an awesome and fun show.